Darkest Labyrinth
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| Darkest Labyrinth | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | Kiwamu |
| Distributor(s) | Daiki Sound (JASDAQ: 3350) |
| Genre | Gothic rock, EBM, electro-industrial |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Location | Tokyo |
| Official website | http://www.starwaverecords.jp/ |
Starwave Records (formerly Darkest Labyrinth and Cure) is a Tokyo based record label, distributor, and web store specializing in gothic and visual kei artists in genres such as Electro-industrial, darkwave, gothic rock, EBM, and industrial metal.
First called Cure, Starwave Records started as an Osaka-based project to release works by label-owner Kiwamu's own band Blood. The label changed names to Darkest Labyrinth and expanded to distribute music by international Gothic and Post-Industrial artists in Japan. In 2007 the label started to sign other artists, making its first deals with international groups such as Virgins O.R. Pigeons (Greece), Spectrum-X (Italy) and GPKism (Australia). That same year they released their first compilation record "V.A. - Darkest Labyrinth" featuring tracks from Japan's dark underground music scene.
Darkest Labyrinth reached its heyday in 2009, releasing works by a variety of international and Japanese artists. As of March 2009 Darkest Labyrinth had released 50 titles from the label and distributed 280 titles from other labels for Japanese major distribution.[1]
In 2010, the web store rebranded itself as Starwave Records and opened a new facebook account.
The most successful artist on the label was Blood who had sold over 20 000 CDs.[1]
Roster
[edit]- Blood
- GPKism
- Spectrum-X
- Noir du'Soleil
- SUICIDE ALI
- 2 Bullet
- Rose Noire
- Labaiser
- Seileen
- Marlee
- Takuya Angel[2]
- Angelspit
Note: some artists are only signed to Darkest Labyrinth for Japanese releases, while they are signed to other labels for Europe, North America, etc.
Labels distributed
[edit]- Alfa Matrix
- Aural Music
- Deadscarlet Records
- Decadance records
- Sound Base Music
- Thorntree Records
- Subsound Records
- Urgence Disk
- HTD Records
